Reports: NY to use GPS-fitted pill bottles to track thieves

By Antoinette Alexander

NEW YORK — New York is hoping to battle the theft of highly addictive prescription drugs, such as Oxycontin, by stocking pharmacies with fake pill bottles that are fitted with GPS tracking devices, according to published reports.

The Washington Post reported that Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said, in prepared remarks provided before a conference Tuesday in California sponsored by former president Bill Clinton’s foundation, that the initiative was sparked by a series of crimes associated with the black market for prescription painkillers.

The initiative is reportedly dubbed “Operation Safety Cap.”

According to a Reuters report, federal and New York Police Department investigators last year seized 9,000 painkillers being sold at an open-air drug market in northern Manhattan.

A database of about 6,000 pharmacies in the New York City area currently is being created by the NYPD, according to the Post. Police offers are expected to visit those pharmacies to recommend better security measures, including the adoption of the GPS-fitted bottles.